Eschew Obfuscation: Should Men Be More Like Women?

Should Men Be More Like Women?

Max Dunn — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:08:00 -0700

In today’s age, the trait of being very senstive to our emotions is highly extolled. Books about boy’s problems usually boil down to the solution that boys would be better off if they were more like girls in this regard. So I recently poised the question to some friends “Are there any traditional “hunter” characteristics of men that are still useful in today’s world?” No-one could come up with an answer. But watching my son pitch at his baseball game today, I thought of one.

"Should Men Be More Like Women?" by Max Dunn

Mon, 22 May 2006 11:45:16 -0700

I like this division of “gender equity” as contrasted to “gender sameness”. I think this emphasizes that the sexes can be equitable and have the same opportunities while still remaining different.

One book I enjoyed that contains references to many studies about the inherent differences between girls and boys is “The Mind of Boys” by Michael Gurian. One study he mentions on page 287 is by Simon Baron-Cohen who has conducted PET and MRI brain scans on males and females for over a decade. This study, reported in March 2004, showed that the “maleness” and “femaleness” of an individual’s brain is identifiable at one day old!

This gives comfort to those of us brought up in the “plasticity” era where we were led to believe that our sons and daughters are different only because we treat them differently.

"Should Men Be More Like Women?" by cbd

Sun, 21 May 2006 22:25:47 -0700

Somehow during the last couple of decades we’ve gotten confused about the male/female stuff. In an effort to make the business world “fairer” for women, we’ve confused gender equity with gender sameness. Not so! Men and women often think differently, feel differently and process outcomes differently. And then there are temperment difference within each gender. No wonder we don’t know what “normal” is suppose to be.

I’d frankly like to read a brief but scholarly research paper outlining and celebrating our differences. Perhaps there is a way to learn to let the genders compliment each other instead of competing or trying to be the “same”.